Role of supportive care in improving the quality of life and reducing unscheduled hospital care in patients with metastatic breast cancer

Background Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients experience long survival and report poorer quality of life than localized breast cancer patients. Comprehensive supportive care (CSC) has been shown to improve the quality of life (QoL) of MBC. The respective part of each support care has not been fully examined, and little is known about whether meeting patients’ needs is accompanied by decreased unscheduled hospital care (UHC). Methods This prospective monocentric study included women who started a new treatment line for MBC between January 2018 and December 2018. The endpoints were factors associated with UHC and QoL (SF36) at month 12. Results 100 patients were offered CSC, 78 were included (21 refusals, 1 no MBC). CSC was provided to 60 patients: pain (43%), psychological (37%), kinesitherapy (30%), social assistance (22%), esthetic (18%), nutrition (18%), massage (13%), and none (10%). CSC rate was not statistically different among patients with (58%) and without UHD (49%). Factors associated with a decrease of UHC were age > 65 years ( p = 0.01), no previous treatment for MBC ( p = 0.0001) with a trend for the lack of CSC ( p = 0.054). Among the 8 domains of the SF36 scale, only health change perception was improved ( p = 0.01) and its predictive factors were treatment carried out as planned ( p = 0.0004), pain care ( p = 0.003), and lack of MBC progression ( p = 0.0035). Conclusion CSC can improve QoL in MBC. Painful patients might benefit more from CSC. UHC did not decrease for patients receiving CSC as expected possibly because of their important needs for clinical care.